Small-Scale Maize Farmers' Access to Farm Inputs in Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

     The study evaluated small-scale maize farmers' access to farm inputs in Abuja, Nigeria because one of the most limiting factors in the development of agriculture in Nigeria is inadequate access to farm inputs. To cover the study area, a multi-stage sampling technique was adopted while structured questionnaires were used for data collection. A total of 160 maize farmers were interviewed in four agricultural zones (40 farmers from each zone). Data were analysed using mixed factorial analysis of variance; mean separation was carried out at the 5 percent probability level. The results showed that maize farmers' access to the different types of farm input differed significantly (p < .05). Of all the farm inputs, land was the most accessible with a mean access value of 3.03 while the least accessible farm inputs were tractor services (0.64) and loans (0.58). Furthermore, the location of the farmers in Abuja had a significant (p < .05) interaction effect on farmers' access to farm inputs. On the contrary, there were no significant differences (p > .05) in the mean responses of the maize farmers' in the four different agricultural zones with respect to access to farm inputs. Generally, the grand mean access value (1.73) indicated that the maize farmers had poor access to all the farm inputs. Based on the grand mean access value, it was concluded that access to the farm inputs was poor; hence it was recommended that Input and Farm Information Service Centres should be established under a publicprivate partnership to increase farmers' access to inputs, especially the most limiting inputs.